Ranma ½: New Friends

Ranma ½: New Friends

Arrival of Jupiter, Mercury, and Pluto Knights

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Chapter 6

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There was complete silence once Duo finished the climb of the temple steps. Duo stared at his friends and family, and they just stared right back until finally, Heero said in a monotone, "What the hell just happened Duo?"

"Well, you see Heero, I remembered a promise to Hotaru that I made as I was dieing on the Moon Kingdom. It was during the final battle against Beryl and I had a sword through my chest." He started but was interrupted before her could get any further by Lita who screamed, "What?!"

"Calm down, Sis. I bet you didn't die peacefully there now did you?" Duo asked and she reluctantly shook her head as memories of being ripped apart by a yoma filled her mind. "Anyway, I had a sword through my chest but it had only hit my lung so I was able to survive long enough for her to find me. She tried to heal the wound but she was too weak from trying to get there fast enough to help fight. So I ended up dead, but before I promised her I would give her a huge, breath stealing welcome kiss as soon as we were both awakened again." Duo said and the other pilots just stared at him in shock. They couldn't believe that Duo would keep a promise for over a thousand years.

The scouts were to busy gushing on how "they wished that they had some one who would do that for them," and Ranma and Ryoga had already lost interest and had gone a few feet away to spar gently. Well all the scouts were gushing except Mina who was quietly sneaking up on Quatre. Heero, Wufei and Duo, who were facing the blonde pilot, saw her coming, but for reasons of their own, didn't do anything except watch what was going to happen.

As soon as Mina was behind Quatre, she put a hand on his shoulder, spun him around and kissed him as deeply as she could. Poor Quatre was so startled that he almost fainted. After a moment, he got over his surprise and started kissing Mina back. They were about the same height so it was a good match and when they finally stopped, everyone one could see a blissful smile on Mina's face and a self-assured, smug smile on Quatre's.

"And what was all of that about, Q-man?" Duo teased his friend who blushed faintly with Mina doing the same after a moment.

"Well, you see Duo, on the day of the attack on the Moon Kingdom, Mina and I had gotten engaged." Quatre said and that was as far as he got as everyone, excluding Heero, Wufei, and Trowa, screamed "You did what?!"

"Got engaged. It was to be announced at the party that night but as you know, Beryl attacked." Mina said as she cuddled up to Quatre.

"Well, it's starting to get late. I think we should all go home for now and meet back here tomorrow." Ranma said into the silence that followed and the others nodded.

"But what about Duo and Lita?" Serena asked quietly as the pilots turned to leave.

"I need to be near my Gundam in case of an emergency, but you can sleep over tonight. There are plenty of rooms. Right Quatre?" Duo said as he turned to the blond, only to find that he was busy kissing the other blond again. "Quatre, hey Q-man! Are you listening?" Duo asked as he knocked on the top of Quatre's head.

"What? Oh, sure she can sleep over tonight. She can use one of my sister's rooms." Quatre said before turning back to Mina.

"Lita, before you go, do you think you can wake up my memories?" Ranma asked Lita as she started to walk away.

"Sure. But lets go inside to do this." She said as she led him in to the temple with others following. As soon as they were settled in Rei's room again, Lita copied what Rei and Hotaru had done earlier. Within a minute, there were both surrounded by a deep green aura that flickered as the others watched. Finally, about ten minutes later, Ranma dropped to the ground unconscious and Lita slumped over a little.

"Are you two all right?" Serena asked her friend as she went over to help her sit up.

"Yes. It just took me by surprise how tired I would feel." She said as she shook her head and stood up. "You should call you family to come pick you up since it's 8:30 now, and you need to see if Ranma's friend Ryoga can stay over as well." She said and Serena nodded before going to ask Rei if she could use her phone.

Everyone waited in silence for Ranma to wake up and for Serena to get back and both things happened at about the same time. Just as Ranma was sitting up, Serena came back into the room with a big smile on her face. "Dad will be here in about ten minutes and it's ok for Ryoga to stay with us for a while too." She said as she helped Ranma stand up and led him over to his wheel chair so he could sit down.

"That's great." Ranma said with a tired look on his face.

"Are you all right?" Serena asked worriedly and he nodded.

"It's just been a long day. I really need to get back in shape." He added and Ryoga nodded from his place against the wall.

"You are at about 1/80 of your overall fitness from just before your accident. You were stronger back when we first met." Ryoga said and Ranma sighed.

"I know, but it's not like I became this way on purpose." He said irritably.

"I know."

Sighing, Ranma then turned to Lita, who was watching him. "Lita, if you are about as strong as you were in the Silver Millennium, then you should train with us too. It's at twelve in the park, near the lake."

"Ok. I just wish that I had more memories of you. Right not, I only have about three or four." She said quietly.

"You didn't get a full down load. When you get you powers in battle, your memories come back slower. But if you are awakened by your partner, you get almost all of them." Luna said from under the bed.

She and Artemis had been there most of the time but they couldn't reveal themselves because of Ranma. But with Ranma on the opposite side of the room, Luna thought that she could talk to them without coming out.

"Who said that?" Duo asked as he jumped off the bed.

"That was Luna and if I'm not mistaken, then Artemis is under there too." Mina said from where she was sitting in Quatre's lap.

"The Royal advisers? Cool!" Duo exclaimed as he reached under the bed and grabbed the two surprised cats. As soon as they were out, they tried to run back under the bed but it was to late. Duo had a good hold of them and there was no one between Ranma and Duo.

"C…c…cats!!!" Ranma screamed as he tried to scramble away. All he succeeded doing, though, was over turning the chair and wedging him self in a corner. Everyone turned at his scream and was shocked to see Ranma cowering in a corned with his hands over his head. "Keep em' away! Keep em' away!" Ranma cried and suddenly Serena remembered her cousin's fear of cats.

"Duo! You have to get the cats out of here!" she screamed at the startled Duo.

"Why?" he asked as he looked back towards Ranma who had stopped yelling and had gone completely stiff.

"If you don't get the cats out of here right now then Ranma is…" she trailed off as Ranma suddenly let out a loud meow. Everyone turned to look at him while Serena gave off a choked, "Oh no…"

"Everyone, stay completely still." Ryoga said harshly as he took a small step forward, gaining Ranma-neko's attention, who growled at him menacingly.

Luna and Artemis had used this sudden stillness of Duo to slip out of his arms and out the window. Heero used the same stillness of the room to whip out his gun and point it at Ranma-neko who now turned from Ryoga to the new threat.

"NO!" Ami yelled as Ranma-neko jumped for Heero. Surprising everyone, including herself, she jumped in front of Heero, just as Ranma slashed with his ki claws.

"Ami!" Everyone yelled as she slumped down into the shocked Heero's arms. She had four large gashes across her chest and it looked like they were deep. With his arms around Ami, Heero couldn't bring his gun up in enough time or dodge to avoid Ranma's next attack. Just as the ki claws were about to land on them, a deep blue glow surrounded the pair. The light threw Ranma-neko away from them with enough force that he slammed into the far wall.

As the glow faded, it revealed Heero in a knight uniform like Quatre's, except he had a dark blue cape with a light blue mask. Just as fast as the uniform appeared, it disappeared, leaving Heero back in his green tank top and jeans. He slumped forward briefly before he stood up and walked quickly over to the bed. As he laid Ami down, everyone noticed the gashes were somehow gone, leaving only the tears in her shirt. All the guys politely turned their backs until Heero covered her modestly with a blanket.

Ryoga and Serena, meanwhile, were trying to wake Ranma up. "Ranma, can you hear me? Ranma?" she said as she gently patted his cheek.

"I know just the way to get him up." Ryoga said as he leaned down and said loudly in Ranma's ear, "Ranma, if you don't wake up right now, you are going it have to eat Akane's cooking for dinner."

"Keep it away!" Ranma screamed as he jumped up off the floor. When everyone turned to look at him, he blushed and mumbled something about toxic waist for food. As he looked around, he saw Ami on the bed and rushed over as fast as he could. "Oh my god! What happened to her?"

"You did." Heero said coldly as he whipped out his gun and leveled it at Ranma's forehead.

"Huh?!"

"You used the Neko-ken, Ranma." Ryoga said and Ranma's face went white and he abruptly collapsed on the floor.

"No, not again…" he whispered as he buried his head in his arms.

"What? What happened?" Serena asked as she dropped to the floor next to her cousin and wrapped her arms around him.

"A year after I was trained in the Neko-ken, just after my seventh birthday, we came to this village. They had a lot of cats around and the Neko-ken took over. When I woke up, three people had horrible slashes on their chest and faces. They almost died and it was all my fault! Now the same thing is happening again, this time to Ami."

Everything was silent for a moment as they stared in horror at the huddled figure on the floor. Finally, Serena found her voice. "It was not your fault Ranma. You can't control the Neko-ken and if it was anyone's fault, it was Uncle Genma's because he was the one that threw you into that pit of starving cats!"

"What! You dad threw you into a pit of starving cats?!" Duo exclaimed, looking pale himself. "Man, sorry I pulled the c…um Luna and Artemis out from under the bed." He apologized and Ranma nodded in acknowledgement. After a moment, Duo spoke up again. "Can you explain what exactly the Neko-ken is?"

"I'll explain since I've seen it happen a lot." Ryoga said quietly. "The Neko-ken is a martial art's technique that will give the fighter increased speed, strength, plus you can shred cement and steel with their bare fingers or the ki claws. But because of the training, if the trainee doesn't go permanently feral, then they can only use the technique when their fear of cats get to a certain point where they go insane and start acting like a cat. But usually, if they are knocked out or they go to sleep, or a big enough shock, like if he gets turned into a girl, happens, then he will snap back to being Ranma. But he can't remember what happens when he goes cat."

"Ranma, I don't blame you. You shouldn't blame yourself." Ami said as she sat up in the bed, surprising most of the people in the room. Holding the blanket over herself to preserve her modesty, she turned a brilliant smile on Ranma before turning to Rei. "Rei, can I please borrow some clothes. I can't go home with my clothes slashed and blood stained."

"Sure. I just finished something you guys, anyway. Since all of you said you liked the temple robes, I made each of you one in your colors for when ever you come over to help. I guess you can use yours now, Ami." Rei said as she went over to her closet an pulled out a large pile of clothes. Going to the bed, she dropped them in a heap at the foot of the bed before she started sorting through the clothes. Quickly she pulled out a dark blue pair of skirt/pants and a light blue wrap top shirt. On the back was the symbol of Mercury embroidered in dark blue thread.

After handing the clothes to Ami, she shooed the men out of the room and started passing out the other outfits to the other girls. For Mina it was orange bottoms with a yellow top with an orange symbol for Venus. Lita got dark green with a light green top with a dark green Jupiter symbol on the back. And Serena got a pink and white version of Rei's priestess robes with a gold moon on the back. "I also made some for the outers and Rini in their colors. Well, Rini's is just like Serena's." Rei said as she gestured to the others in the closet.

"Why didn't you put the symbol of Mars on the back of yours?" Serena asked.

"Because these are priestess robes. I can't go changing them. Grandpa would kill me." Rei said with a sigh.

Not wanting Ami to feel weird being the only one in her new outfit, the others also changed in to theirs. Three minutes after then guys had left the room, the girls left it too wearing their new robes. Serena was pushing the wheelchair with her so that Ranma could sit down before her dad got there, which was a good thing because just as Ranma sat in the chair, Serena's dad arrived at the top of the stairs.

"Are you three ready to go?" Ken called as he hurried up to the group.

"Yes. Daddy, don't I look great?" Serena said happily as she twirled around to show her dad her new clothes.

"Sure you do honey. And so do all you other girls too." He said with a smile at the group of girls. Turning back to Ranma he said, "Well, how are we going to get you to the bottom with the chair?"

"The same way we got him up here. I'll carry him if you and Serena will carry the chair." Ryoga said as he stepped forward.

"Are you Ryoga?" Ken asked and Ryoga nodded before he bent down and swung Ranma onto his back. After saying goodbye to everyone, the trio turned and left the shrine with Ryoga carrying Ranma and his pack and Serena and her father dragging the wheelchair between them.

After they were gone, Duo turned to his sister and asked, "Why does Ranma have the wheelchair? He seems to be perfectly fine. A little weak maybe but fine nonetheless."

"Well you see…" Lita quickly filled the pilots in about what had happened to Ranma and at the end, all five of them were shocked.

"Wow, that's…wow." Duo said. For once, he couldn't find the words that he needed to describe what he was feeling at the moment.

"Yeah. I know. Now, we should get going before it gets to late." Lita said as she grabbed her clothes and headed towards the steps after exchanging goodbyes with the others.

As soon as Lita and the Gundam pilots were gone, Rei turned to Ami and Mina, the only ones left. "You two can stay here tonight because it's so late or you can use my phone to call for a ride."

"Thank you, Rei. I accept." Ami said and Mina nodded. They spent the rest of the night talking about their new protectors and other things that popped into their heads, unaware that Chad was missing from the Shrine and had been since he had gone looking for Hotaru.

Back at home, Serena and Ranma helped get Ryoga get settled in Ranma's room on a spare cot. As soon as it was set up with clean sheets and blankets, all three sat down.

"This is so weird. I mean the day before yesterday, I knew that I was never going to be able to move normally or do anything with the art again and I knew that I would not have someone to love me for who I am. But know, I'm completely healed and I have someone who has loved me for a thousand years." Ranma said softly as he drew his legs up to his chest.

"I know. For me it was I went to bed one night a crybaby wimp and the next say I was a super heroine and an alien princess to boot. I was put in charge of saving the world by fighting monsters when I had never fought anything in my life besides Sammy. And then just a year later, I found out that I married the Prince of Earth, had a little girl and was Neo-Queen Serenity, the ruler of the entire Solar system in the 30th century, not to mention I'm going to live for thousands of years. I mean, I'm 16 and I'm going rule everything and I'm still going to look twenty-three when I'm over a thousand!" Serena said and the other two looked at her in shock.

"Well, I woke up one day and figured out that my worst enemy is my best friend. Nothing like the two of you but, hey, that's life I guess." Ryoga said with a small chuckle.

"Well, I guess we should get to bed. Goodnight guys." Serena said as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Hey Serena, would you like to train with us? I figure if you're going to be Queen someday, you should learn the family style." Ranma said with a small smile.

"I don't know. I don't think I'm going to be good enough and besides, both of you are so much more advanced than I am." She said quietly.

"Hotaru is going to be doing it with us too so don't worry about it. We start at noon in the park." Ranma said and Serena finally nodded before she left to head towards her room.

Ranma and Ryoga turned off the lights and got into bed in silence. Just before Ranma could doze off though, Ryoga asked quietly, "Do you miss Nerima?"

"I miss the area and I miss some people, like Kasumi and Ukyo, but Ukyo abandoned me just like everyone else did, except Kasumi. She's the only one to stay by me the whole time. Now, goodnight, Ryoga." Ranma said, the rolled over and went to sleep.

"Night Ranma." Ryoga said as he too drifted off.

As soon as the Gundam pilots got back to the safe house, Trowa went to his room to check his laptop for any new missions. Though he would never admit it, he was slightly jealous of the others. They were all Knights and had someone to love, even though Heero and Wufei would never admit it out loud.

'You have a new mission. Enter password.' Was waiting on his screen after he opened the connection to the Doctor.

'Nanashi' he entered without a moment pause.

'Password confirmed. Enter secondary password.'

'Shin-chan no baka'

'Secondary password approved.' Quickly encoded writing scrolled across the screen and just as fast, Trowa decoded and read it.

'Mission accepted. Terminate connection.' He typed and severed the connection as 'Good luck' appeared.

Closing the lid of his laptop, he hurried downstairs where the others were either getting something to eat or talking to Lita. "I'm going on a solo mission." He announced and the others nodded and said goodbye in their own ways. Within moments, he was in the cockpit of Heavyarms and was heading for the mobile doll base he was ordered to destroy.

At the same time Trowa was heading for his fight, Sailor Pluto was heading for one of her own. Through the time gates, she had seen a yoma attack in America. Not wanting to bother Serena and the girls, she used the time gate to get there and challenged the monster as it drained energy from a small group of victims. It looked like a cross between a cat and a bird.

"Guarding the Gates of Time, I am Sailor Pluto. How dare you attack people who are trying to relax under the full moon. I cannot forgive you. In the name of Pluto, I shall punish you." She said as she pointed her staff at the monster as it abandoned its victims and turned towards here. 'I'm starting to sound as stupid as Sailor Moon. I think I need to get more rest.' She though with a sweat drop that matched the one on the monsters forehead and the people watching, though the ones on the people watching was because she was still speaking in Japanese and they had no idea what she said, though it did still sound stupid.

After a moment to recover its self, the monster flapped its wings and shot, what looked like a fur ball, at the scout, who nimbly dodged. Hearing a hissing sound, she turned quickly towards the fur ball and saw that the outer covering had melted away to reveal ten miniature versions of the yoma. They quickly started circling her and as they got fasted, they started to glow with a black glow that built up until it was a wall between her and the outside world.

Throwing a Dead Scream at the wall, it rebounded back to hit her in the stomach. When she was able to look again, the wall had formed a dome over her and the creatures had stopped running though they were still glowing. But the light was getting brighter and she could since the energy that was growing in them. Knowing they were about to explode and kill her, she started attacking the dome, but this time, instead of deflecting the attacks, it absorbed them. She couldn't even open a gate to the Time Gates.

'I really don't want to die like this.' She thought and suddenly she started glowing a maroon light.

Trowa was in trouble. He had succeeded in destroying half the base, but now, he was being swarmed by dozens of mobile dolls. 'I really don't want to die like this.' He thought as he ran out of bullets and missiles. Suddenly, he seemed to hear echo of his thought and he started glowing with a dark maroon light. The light kept getting stronger and stronger until even his Gundam was glowing. After about a minute of this, the light exploded outward, wiping out the mobile dolls and the rest of the base, even as he turned into energy and was rocketed around the world, his Gundam disappearing from around him to be transported back to the hanger under the safe house they were currently staying at.

He solidified just as the creatures were about to explode. "Dead Shout!" he yelled as maroon energy shot from his hands to hit the dome. Unlike when Sailor Pluto had tried from inside, it exploded at contact, destroying it in time for him to jump into the ring of glowing creatures and jump out again dragging her with him. The creatures detonated a moment later.

"Pluto Knight?!" Sailor Pluto gasped as she got a good look at her rescuer. His outfit was the same as the other Knights, except his cape was maroon lined and he had a maroon mask that covered his eyes.

"Yes. Talk later. We have a monster to defeat first." He said and she nodded. She readied her staff as he drew his sword for the scabbard.

"Sword Barrage!" Pluto Knight shouted as hundreds of energy swords flew from his sword at enemy that then exploded on contact.

"Dead Scream!" Sailor Pluto whispered as the bright purple attack shot from her staff to hit the monster it the chest.

Their attacks destroyed the yoma as the small crowd cheered and the energy went back into the victims. Seeing that Pluto knight was about to collapse, Sailor Pluto opened a portal to the Time Gate and quickly dragged him after her as she disappeared into it.

As they disappeared, a figure in the shadows, who had watched everything, turned to go with a small dragon curled around their neck.

Hi! I'm sorry to rush through finding most of the Knights. I'm going to wait a while before Neptune and Uranus Knights arrive. Thanks for being so patient with me and my story!

Shinigami-chan